A Complete Change in Photography Philosophy

Photo by Heidi Sandstrom. on Unsplash

"Every ten years a man should give him self a good kick in the pants." 
Edward Steichen

And so it is time for that kick in the pants.  I have been giving some thought into how my photography is changing over the last few years.  Small things have been changing and should as we evolve and discover new interests.  

When I look back, I went through an HDR phase, where everything was about post processing.  I then went to show off the gear, by doing a great deal of shallow depth of field shots.  I went from wanting to shoot large buildings to looking for detail shots.  And I went from exclusive color to a mix with B&W.

This evolution seems to follow patterns as I see other photographers going through the same phases. Perhaps this is driven by social media, or perhaps it is a natural evolution of the pursuit of that hobby. When I really adopted photography as a hobby, back in 2009, I assumed that the digital revolution was over. Now I realize that what I have been witnessing has been the evolution of digital photography. I have also seen the resurrection of film and enjoyed the rediscovery of the analog methods.

I have been seeing myself use social media platforms such as Instagram a lot more these days. Initially I viewed it as another obligation to keep up to date with friends.  It is only recently that I have begun to see it as a way to show my work to others and see what different parts of the world are working on. It represents the fashion magazines of the 1950's and 60's.  

From a gear perspective, I have been looking at smaller, lighter and simpler. This is in line with my change of artistic interests.  The curious aspect is that it has gone up the price chain with Leica's now replacing Nikons as my digital camera of choice. The change stems from a workflow adjustment in that now I want to spend 30 seconds on an image in post, and spend 30 minutes figuring out how to shoot it. I want fewer images and more hits. I want more shots of people and less of isolated buildings. 

The interesting part of this discovery is that these changes came about in isolation of one another...or so I thought. Today I realized that what I was viewing as a series of steps in the progression of this hobby, was in fact a seismic shift in photography philosophy and one deserving of more contemplation. 

So the next few posts, I will export these changes and what it means to how, what and why I shoot.  I wonder if, like the choice of subjects, this is also a non-unique step in a photography evolution.